Thursday, March 28, 2024

Republicans’ Key Witness Raises Alarm Over Big Tech Reform

-

Republicans have a new rising star in .

The Heritage Foundation research fellow testified yesterday before a House Energy and Commerce hearing on proposals to rein in Big Tech.

Following a tweet from Florida Gov. , her testimony went viral.

WATCH:

“I Too Worked for

As The Heritage Foundation reports:

“I too worked for Facebook. I joined the company after three tours in Afghanistan, because I believed in Facebook's mission, the democratization of information, but I was wrong,” said Frederick. “Big Tech companies tell us not to believe our lying eyes, that viewpoint censorship is all in our heads.”

Frederick continued: “Tell that to the Gold Star mom who criticized Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal and was deleted by Facebook after the death of her son, a U.S. Marine. Tell that to Allie Beth Stuckey, who had the temerity to say that biological men should not compete in men's sports before being suspended by Twitter. Tell that to Clarence Thomas, whose documentary on Amazon was deleted without explanation.”

Sharp Divides Between Old Colleagues

The Democrats' star witness had a very different opinion than Frederick.

Frances Haugen had testified before the U.S. Senate in October. Haugen first made headlines after leaking a trove of documents from Facebook and Instagram.

SEE ALSO: Facebook Experiences Massive Outage After Bombshell Report

While Haugen spoke about hate speech and misinformation, she seemed much less concerned about Facebook and Twitter's extraordinary decision that kept users from sharing the Post's October 2020 report on Hunter Biden's laptop.

Along with Frederick's comments came a critique of the left's proposals to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides a level of immunity to social sites:

“Holding Big Tech accountable should result in less censorship, not more. The First Amendment should also be the standard from which all Section 230 reforms flow.

“Section 230 reform is not a silver bullet. We have to look outside DC for answers. States, civil society, and tech founders all have a role to play.  Despite what the new Twitter CEO may think, American lawmakers have a duty to protect and defend the rights given to us by God and enshrined in our Constitution by the Founders – rights that specific tech companies, in conjunction with the , are actively and deliberately eroding.”

SEE ALSO: Twitter Hits Rock Bottom With Latest Controversy

Succinctly echoing Republican lawmakers' concerns, Frederick added, “We cannot let tech totalitarians shape a digital world where one set of thinkers are second-class citizens.”

Jeff Isaak
Jeff Isaak
As a native Iowan, Jeff grew up with a ringside seat to the Iowa caucuses. He knew early on that his involvement in our democratic process would go beyond voting for candidates and causes he cared about—Jeff wanted to use his voice to make a real difference.

1 COMMENT

  1. Do something about it then. I am tired of politicians talking and talking but not accomplishing anything, except for asking for more money.

Comments are closed.

Latest News